They do: Widow, widower find love again in Hainesport church

Wednesday

Jul 11, 2018 at 5:00 AMJul 24, 2018 at 3:02 PM

In this great big world Annie Mazur and David Maier had managed to find one another, and a love that neither had assumed would necessarily come their way.

Annie Mazur almost didn't go to her church for a meeting on a Saturday morning in July 2017. She knew she should be there as chair of the church's Wo's ministry, so obligation won out over sleeping in.

As it turned out, that dedication to duty turned out to be a life-changing decision. It was later that day that Annie, a widow of 12 years, had a conversation, initiated by David Maier, a new widower, who had asked Annie if she'd mind talking to him about the loss of a spouse.

David was hurting, and Annie surely understood that from deeply personal experience.

So the two found an empty meeting room, sat down and talked, not just for a few minutes but for several hours. Both remember how strangely easy it was, and how remarkably they seemed to have an ease that is rare. While their paths had crossed through church work at the Easton Bible Church in Hainesport, this unexpected comfort level was rare for both.

Neither Annie or David, both of Mount Laurel, could have imagined what followed in the coming months. There would be another conversation the very next day over lunch, and then many more to follow as this longtime widow and new widower shared their stories of love and loss.

"It was just so helpful, so easy to talk to Annie," recalls David, who had attended a couple of organized grief groups, but had not found anything like the solace he found with Annie.

"I couldn't believe what was happening," Annie recalls of those first conversations. "It was amazing. I honestly knew that something remarkable was happening to us."

That "something" was a deep love that was initially just felt and then acknowledged.

David proposed to Annie on Oct. 15, 2017. She had picked him up for the church service and David asked Annie to sit down. "I was afraid he was going to tell me something upsetting, but instead he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him."

Yes, far better than what Annie was expecting and both felt soaring joy. In this great big world they had managed to find one another, and a love that neither had assumed would necessarily come their way.

But both Annie, the marketing director for a senior community, and David, a retired manager in the HVAC field, recognized that this would be no Brady Bunch fairy tale. Their experience of loss and grief had of course affected their respective families — both have adult children and in Annie's case, she has had a beloved granddaughter living with her.

Given all that, the couple, both deeply spiritual, still wanted to plan a wedding that had meaning and joy against a backdrop of spirituality.

Their mutual connection with their church, and its pastor allowed for that goal to be reached.

On Feb. 10, a day when the sun peeked through clouds and later a gentle rain fell, guests gathered at the quaint country church that has been a homeland to the bride and groom. Both wanted the wedding to be traditional, but again, full of joy.

Annie herself was both a traditional bride, choosing an elegant lace dress with a hint of sophistication blended with its romantic style. But adding to this bride's high fashion image — and her well-known passion for footwear of all sorts — she had managed to find a striking pair of white boots with fur trim after searching the globe for the perfect find. The ones she wore were scene-stealers with 5-inch heels, no less.

For the couple, the moments before the ceremony had a special meaning. Hidden from one another by a door in adjoining rooms, but still holding hands, they prayed together. "It was one of the most meaningful parts of a day of such deep meaning," Annie remembers.

Before a rapt audience, the two listened to Pastor Joseph Scro's message about love and faith interwoven, and about their own enduring values.

Annie wore the engagement ring they had carefully designed with three beautiful main stones, two to reflect each of their former spouses, still lovingly remembered, and the third to symbolize their own love and new beginning as they had joined their lives together.

That joining also was articulated by the officiant, Scro.

Scro emphasized the deep love that had brought the couple together, placing it in a Biblical context. "It is significant that Jesus chose a wedding at which to perform his first miracle of grace and joy. Jesus was on the guest list and he was also on David and Annie's guest list," noted the pastor, who also reminded the bride and groom to remember that marriage does not mean that they cease to be individuals, but that they continue developing themselves.

Another beautiful ceremonial element involved the entwining of three strands of cord with blue representing the groom, white representing the bride and gold representing God and the church.

Dear ones to the couple did the intricate entwining as a rapt congregation watched the symbolic joining.

Perhaps the quiet joy of the ceremony was the exact mood that represented past, present and future for a couple who had known sorrow and had still found hope in their love.

Their mutual joy is perhaps best expressed in the grateful words of the bridegroom: "I love her, I love her, and thank the good Lord for bringing us together."

Annie's response: a megawatt smile.

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